Taissa Farmiga of ​The Final Girls​ Shows Off Her Scary Horror Faces

Taissa Farmiga is killing it. Often literally. Between playing a deadly ingénue on American Horror Story: Coven and starring in this month’s campy slasher flick The Finals Girls, 21-year-old Farmiga has a lot of practice as a scream queen. We asked her to share some of her tips. Most important: don’t break. Even when Adam DeVine is thrusting your way in tighty whities.

GQ: How do you keep from laughing when you’re doing a scary scene but something really funny is happening?Taissa Farmiga: Sometimes I’ll bite my lip, and I’ll bite it so hard. I’m like, If you break, I’m going to hurt you. You have to threaten yourself.

I’m sure working with Adam DeVine made it more difficult.
He’s something. One of my favorite scenes to shoot was just me, Malin Åkerman, and him. Adam walks in—and they’re supposed to fuck or whatever, so I come in and I’m like, ‘Don’t do it!’—but then we both turn around and he’s there in the tightest underwear. Pants pulled down, swirling his hips. I think that’s one of the hardest things on set. The people I had to not laugh at.

Watch the trailer for The Final Girls:

Are you ever actually scared when you shoot these scenes?
Yeah, I’m a very jumpy person. Someone comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder and I freak out. It’s fun to be a part of a horror project, because it’s so easy to feel the horror when I’m there. I’m looking at someone with a giant prosthetic; a neck’s cut, like on American Horror Story, or it’s a wooden mask and a head’s totally burnt, like in The Final Girls. The prosthetics just look so good.

How do you think you would fare in an actual slasher situation?
I think I’d do pretty well. I think out of all of us Nina Dobrev would be the final girl to go. She would take charge and have a plan, but I’d be her right-hand man. I’d pick up a machete and help out. I’d be an asset to the team.